Intro to 4D: September 2012

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Homework due 10.04.12

1. Look: Go to MoMA and see "Quay Brothers: On Deciphering the Pharmacist's Prescription for Lip-Reading Puppets" http://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/exhibitions/1240. Be prepared to discuss in class.

2. Draw: Come up with some preliminary ideas for a stop-motion animation project where your hand is evident. We'll be discussing these references and more next week: http://introto4df12.blogspot.com/2012/09/stop-motion-animation.html.

3. Document: Post your project to YouTube http://introto4df12.blogspot.com/2012/09/fcp-exporting-and-uploading-to-youtube.html.

Stop Motion Animation

Stop motion (also known as stop action) is an animation technique to make a physically manipulated object appear to move on its own. The object is moved in small increments between individually photographed frames, creating the illusion of movement when the series of frames is played as a continuous sequence. Clay figures are often used in stop motion for their ease of repositioning. Motion animation using clay is called clay animation or clay-mation.

"Darkness, Light, Darkness" 1990 dir. Jan Svankmajer

"Alice" 1989 dir. Jan Svankmajer (excerpt)

"Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story" 1987, dir. Todd Haynes

*There are only a few instances of stop-motion here, but the use of inanimate objects to play live characters functions in a similar way

Openly gay, experimental filmmaker Todd Haynes burst upon the scene two years after his graduation from Brown University with his now-infamous 43-minute cult treasure "Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story" (1987). Seizing upon the inspired gimmick of using Barbie and Ken dolls to sympathetically recount the story of the pop star's death from anorexia, he spent months making miniature dishes, chairs, costumes, Kleenex and Ex-Lax boxes, and Carpenters' records to create the film's intricate, doll-size mise-en-scene. The result was both audacious and accomplished as the dolls seemingly ceased to be dolls leaving the audience weeping for the tragic singer. Unfortunately, Richard Carpenter's enmity for the film (which made him look like a selfish jerk) led to the serving of a "cease and desist" order in 1989, and despite the director's offer "to only show the film in clinics and schools, with all money going to the Karen Carpenter memorial fund for anorexia research," "Superstar" remains buried, one of the few films in modern America that cannot be seen by the general public.

"Automatic Writing" 2003, William Kentridge

"Mound" 2011, Allison Schulnik

Mound by Allison Schulnik from garaco taco on Vimeo.

Gotye - Somebody That I Used To Know (feat. Kimbra)

Oren Lavie - Her Morning Elegance

Video: 1990s-Present

Chris Cunningham 1997 "Only You" Portishead http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohDDxCdm9Oo
http://vimeo.com/channels/153296

Pipilotti Rist 1996 “Sip my ocean” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VTkxwNJHHs
1997 "Ever is Over All" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a56RPZ_cbdc
http://www.ubu.com/film/rist_ents.html

Gillian Wearing 1997 “2 into 1” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7y5uvyhHgc

Shirin Neshat 1998 “Turbulent” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCAssCuOGls

Tony Oursler 2003 "Coo" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBYaVAPvNh0
http://www.ubu.com/film/oursler.html
http://www.tonyoursler.com/ Interview: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-s4xzB5D2Q

Diana Thater “Rare” 2008 http://vimeo.com/19218073
“gorillagorillagorilla” 2009 http://vimeo.com/19215391
“Chernobyl” 2010 http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=sNzwQBa_9R8

Marilyn Minter “Green Pink Caviar” 2009 http://www.greenpinkcaviar.com

Ryan Trecartin http://ubu.com/film/trecartin.html
“The Re'Search (Re'Search Wait'S), 2009-2010” 2009-2010 http://ubu.com/film/trecartin_research.html

10.06.12: "Question for Revolution and Universal Brotherhood" exhibition

Please attend the "Question for Revolution and Universal Brotherhood" performance, reading, and discussion on Saturday, October 6th from 4pm - 8pm. There will be a 2 hour dance performance by one of the BFA seniors followed by a closing reading with discussion led by Isaac and other curators. Some of the readers include Andrea Geyer, Heather Love, Mira Schor and Jack McGrath.

For more info:
http://nobetty.net/4d/f12/QRUB%20Press%20Release.pdf http://nobetty.net/4d/f12/QRUB%20poster%20FINAL.pdf

Location: Aronson Galleries, 66 Fifth Avenue, New York
Gallery hours: Open daily 12:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. and Thursday evenings until 8:00 p.m.;
closed all major holidays and holiday eves
Admission: Free
Info: Please contact 212.229.8919 or visit www.newschool.edu/sjdc

Monday, September 24, 2012

Installation Spaces in Fine Arts

New Guidelines:

Presentation Space #1 on the 5th floor is for MFA use only.

Studio #4: Only BFA seniors who share a studio in 403 will be able to book studio #4 on the 5th floor for the rest of the year. Exception: MFA Open Studios (+plus one week in advance of) and MFA mid and end of year reviews.

Meeting Space B on the 5th floor is available for all BFA and MFA students.

Installation Space A on the 4th floor is available for all BFA and MFA students.

All installations spaces on 4+5 will be available for BFA use during their mid and end of semester reviews and the books should also be blocked out to reflect that.

To ensure that installation spaces are all vacated as they were found, students will check installation spaces both IN and OUT with FA student workers and any spaces not painted and returned to good order and also within required time frame will lose rights to book it out again.

Thursday, September 20, 2012

FCP: Nesting

To apply a filter or change the speed of all of your images you will need to NEST your sequence. This turns your many clips into one clip.

To nest a sequence:
-create a new sequence in your Browser (File>New>Sequence)
-double click to open it in the Timeline
-from the Browser, pull your original sequence down into your new sequence, it will appear as a single clip
-to make edits to your nested sequence that require the Viewer, remember to hold down the Option key when you double click to get your nested sequence to appear in the Viewer

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Video: the 1980's

Dan Graham 1982 “Rock My Religion” http://vimeo.com/8796242

Bruce Nauman 1970 “Live/Taped Video Corridor” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IrqXiqgQBo
1985 “Good Boy, Bad Boy” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VugLUa47sLI
1992 “Anthro-Socio” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyiZD4Q3Mdk

Mark Pauline / Survival Research Lab http://srl.org/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeNdH2ByfCM&feature=relmfu

The Guerilla Girls http://www.guerrillagirls.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvUKPhT5jHA

Homework due 09.27.12

Finish your first project: Structural Film <> Appropriation. You must have a high quality QuickTime file of your project on a DVD ready to go at 9am. Unless you request otherwise, all projects will be viewed for critique on the large screen at the front of the classroom.

FCP: Exporting and Uploading to YouTube

EXPORTING FROM FCP
Use YouTube's settings: http://support.google.com/youtube/bin/static.py?hl=en&topic=1728570&guide=1728585&page=guide.cs

UPLOADING TO YOUTUBE
1. Login to YouTube, login info was sent to your email. Click on Upload in the upper right. Click on the yellow Upload button on the left, and choose your newly exported file from your hard drive. It should begin uploading.
2. While your file is uploading (this can also take a while), choose a Title, Description, and Tags if you want your video to be Public. Tags are one or two word identifiers that make it easy to find your videos in a search, i.e. your name or Parsons.**If you don't want your video public, choose Unlisted.**
3. Once your video is uploaded on YouTube, you can send the link anywhere.

FCP: Exporting a High Quality QuickTime file

1. Once you are finished, save everything, then make sure that your final sequence is open in the Timeline.

2. Go to File>Export>Using QuickTime Conversion. In the dialogue box:
Save As: give your movie a title like "time_final_highquality.mov" so it is distinguishable from your other video exports.
Where: Save it to your FireWire hard drive.
Format: QuickTime Movie
Then click on Options, and a new dialogue box appears.

3. Under Video choose Settings
Compression Type: Apple ProRes 422(HQ).
Click OK, this takes you back to the earlier dialogue box.

4. Under Video choose Size. Change as needed to match your project settings.

5. Click OK again, then Save. Your file will begin exporting. This takes time, be patient! Do not click on the file, even if it appears in the Finder, until FCP is finished.

6. Check your exported video -- open it in QuickTime, it should look fabulous. If not, check your settings and try again. You can also try using H264 for compression instead of Apple ProRes 422(HQ).

7. Burn this file to DVD. It will be big, several gigabytes. This is your backup, you can use this file to make mastered DVDs, and to import into other versions of FCP/FCP Express.

FCP: Titles

http://multimedia.journalism.berkeley.edu/tutorials/finalcut/titles/

FCP: Time Remapping & Chroma Key Editing

Time Remapping Tutorial

Green Screen/Chroma Key Editing
http://content.videoblocks.com/2011/06/how-to-use-final-cut-pro-to-do-green-screen-and-chroma-key-editing.html

FCP: Audio

To Normalize your audio:
1. Lock your video clips and select all of your audio clips.

2. Go to Modify>Levels. Adjust gain by: 0dB and Make Changes: Relative.

*You can also adjust your levels manually using keyframes (the pen tool) and the "mountain" button in the lower left corner of the Timeline.

Free Sound Effects: http://www.freesound.org/
You need to register, but it's free.

To get audio from YouTube etc. from any computer: http://offliberty.com/

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Homework due 09.20.12

1. Re-shoot / re-search as necessary.

2. Assemble a rough cut of your footage.

Converting Files for FCP

Apple's Compressor is both conversion and compression software that comes bundled with FCP and is available on all of the Mac towers at the New School.

1. Open Compressor. You'll get a dialogue box that asks about templates. Hit cancel.

2. Drag the first file you want to convert into the box with the arrow. A thumbnail of your video will appear.

3. Down below, click on the Settings tab. Choose Apple>Formats>QuickTime>Apple ProRes 422. Click and drag Apple ProRes 422 up to where it says "drag settings and destinations here." A QuickTime icon and Apple ProRes 422 will appear on the left, next to your video thumbnail.

4. Go back down and click on the Destinations tab. Choose Custom>Work In Progress. Click and drag Work In Progress up to where it says Source. Work in Progress should then appear next to Apple ProRes. To the right of Work In Progress, choose a new file name, be sure to keep the .mov file extension. Then click Submit on the lower right. Your file will begin compressing -- do not attempt to open it, even though it will appear in the Finder! Once it's done, save it to your hard drive. You can now safely import it into FCP.

->If your files can't be converted with Compressor and you can't download free conversion software:
Try Zamzar http://www.zamzar.com/, a free online converter. Free, but limit of 5 conversions per day and 100mb file size, for unlimited upgrade to paid plan.

->If you are on your own computer:
You can use free software called MPEG StreamClip http://www.squared5.com/. There's a tutorial here: http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DXbqysbip7T4.

You can also try HandBrake http://handbrake.fr/.

Setting up your HD project in FCP

1. Open FCP, in the first dialogue box choose Apple ProRes 422 (HQ) and set the primary scratch disk to your FireWire 800 drive. The program should open.

2. In the upper left choose Final Cut Pro>System Settings. Make sure that all of the options are set to save to your FireWire drive.

3. In the upper left choose Final Cut Pro>Audio/Video Settings. For your sequence preset choose Apple ProRes 422(HQ) 1920x1080 30p. For your capture preset choose HDV-Apple ProRes 422(HQ). For your device control preset choose non-controllable device. Video playback should be set to none and audio to default. Then click OK.

4. Go to File>New Project, then immediately save your project to your FireWire drive.

You're all set! Start editing away. Try and remember to save your project often -- computers crash, especially when they are editing video.

Final Cut Pro (FCP)

New School FAQ for FCP: http://www.newschool.edu/information-technology/technology-labs/video/

Software and Hardware Overview
• Digital vs. analog video, nondestructive and nonlinear editing
DV requires 3.6MB of storage per second, 216MB per minute, 1GB per 5 minutes
• Aspect Ratios
4x3: This is the standard television format used throughout the second half of the 20th Century. Sometimes referred to as 12x9.
16x9: This format has gained acceptance as the new standard for widescreen TV, DVD and high-definition video.
21x9 (Cinemascope): A very wide screen format used for theatrical release movies.

• Desktop Tour
• Menus, Shortcuts, and Controls
Shortcuts:
Cmd-+/- to zoom in and out of window
Shift-Z to fit to window
Ctrl-Click for shortcut menus
Cmd-A to select all
Cmd-X to cut
Cmd-Z to copy
Cmd-V to paste
Shift-Click to select multiple items
Home key to go to beginning of sequence
Cmd-C then Option-V to paste attributes
• Editing and Effects Windows
The Browser: window where you organize and access all of your media source material
The Viewer: your source monitor, allows you to view video and audio clips, mark edit points, and add/control effects
The Canvas: monitor where you view playback of edited sequences (linked to the Timeline)
The Timeline: displays edited sequences as clips arrayed on multiple video and audio tracks along a time axis
The Tool Palette: contains editing tools for cutting and moving clips (similar to Photoshop)

Capturing Media
• Log and Transfer

Getting Digital
• File Naming — .bin, .seq, each folder/drive/partition should not contain the entire name of another f/d/p
• Selecting a Logging Bin
• Logging and Transferring
• AutoSave Features

The Viewer
• Working with Clips
• Navigating with Timecode
• Setting In and Out Points

Editing in FCP
• Creating a sequence
• Basic Editing
Insert edit: inserts clip at the In point, and moves media to the right to make room for the new source clip
Overwrite edit: the source clip overwrites sequence clips past the sequence In point with no time shift in the existing sequence
• Deleting clips from a sequence
Lift: removes selected material leaving a gap (shortcut: Command-X)
• Performing Edits in the Timeline

Using the Timeline and Canvas
• The Canvas Window
• The Tool Palette
• Working with Items in the Timeline

Transitions
• Adding Transitions
• When to use transitions
• Locating and Applying Transitions

Technical Resources
• The Final Cut Pro Help Menu in Final Cut Pro — this is the entire FCP manual in PDF format, easy to search and relatively well written for a software manual
• http://www.mopictive.org — The New York City Final Cut Pro Users Group, free to join and a good resource for technical questions

Monday, September 10, 2012

Article on Zackary Drucker

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/02/zackary-druckers-gold-standard_n_1383631.html

Thursday, September 6, 2012

Getting files from the Canon 7D for editing

If you plug in your camera via the USB cable to a Mac, it should appear as a hard drive on your desktop. If this doesn't happen, and your cable is plugged in, etc., try using the Image Capture application (included on all Macs). Use Spotlight to locate it or go to the Applications folder > Image Capture. You should see the 7D listed, be sure to save the files to your fire wire drive. You can also get the files with an SD card reader, available on the 8th floor of 55 West 13th St./Arnold Hall.

Shooting Tips

Before you start
Check out your equipment online 48 hours in advance. Once you get it from the 9th floor, check it meticulously before signing it out (plug in the lights, turn on the camera and check the zoom, etc.). Otherwise if any thing is wrong, you will have to pay for it.
NEVER EVER leave your equipment unattended. Get someone to watch it for you or lock it up.

Framing & Shooting
Make sure the video size/resolution is set to 1920 x 1080 30fps.

When you are framing your shots, remember that video is horizontal. If you shoot vertically, you'll have black bars on either side of your image.

To focus, zoom in on your focal point, manually adjust the focus, then zoom out.

Try to avoid using the “Auto focus” setting. Manually focus your shots, so you don’t get jumps in focusing.

Video gets cropped – even the best new flat screen TV can crop your image around the edges. Be sure that anything important happens within the “action safe” area and not at the very edge of your frame.

Just because you see life at eye level, don’t confine the camera there – the placement of the camera is one of the most important aspects of shooting video. It is the statement of what the scene represents and how the audience is supposed to view this particular situation.

Sometimes a shot will look flat when it is projected, even though it looked good to you in the viewfinder. While our eyes view the set and actors in stereo, we are dealing with a monocular system of recording and display. A good solution is to look at a scene through only one eye when you shoot it.

Video does not handle high-contrast ratios well – it’s best to avoid really bright whites or dark darks unless you are going for a particular effect.

Always remember to white balance your shots.

Avoid clothes with large white areas. Also avoid thin stripes, checks or herringbone patterns if possible.

Only zoom if you have a really good reason.

The tripod is your friend – only shoot handheld for a really good reason.

If in doubt, work with a partner and use multiple cameras – the more coverage the better.

Lighting
Handle the lights in the light kit with gloves and never touch the bulbs inside without gloves even if they are cool – they get so hot that the oil from your hands and fingerprints will burn off, and could cause the bulb to explode.

As the sun moves across the sky it changes color and temperature. This may not be picked up by your eyes, but it will be picked up by the camera.

Different light sources have different colors and temperatures (fluorescent light is green, daylight is blue). Don’t mix them together, it will wreak havoc with your white balance.

Fill panels (boards used to bounce or reflect light) can be made from almost anything (foam core, drawing pads, cardboard boxes). Improvise!

Remember, “Good editing can’t fix bad video.”

If you want to learn more about shooting professional video, and transferring video to film, I highly recommend Digital Moviemaking by Scott Billups. His website, http://www.pixelmonger.com is also a great resource.

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Canon 7D Video Settings

Quick tutorial to set Custom White Balance
How to Set the Custom White Balance on a Canon 7D by mahalodaily

Canon Video Settings demo

Shutter Speed test

Homework due 09.13.12

1. Draw: Map or storyboard your idea for Project 2: Structural Film <> Appropriation. These can be sketches or written diagrams, but they must clearly articulate your project ideas.

2. Shoot/acquire: At least three minutes for footage for Project 2: Structural Film <> Appropriation.

3. Read: This short essay by Nam June Paik "Input-Time and Output-Time" http://nobetty.net/4d/resources/readings/paik_inputoutput.pdf
and this interview with Dara Birnbaum from "The Early Show: Video from 1969-1979" http://nobetty.net/4d/resources/readings/dara_birnbaum_interview.pdf

4. Supplies: Bring in your footage on your portable Fire Wire hard drive.

Project 2: Structural Film <> Appropriation (due 09.27.12)

Create a short (three minutes or less) video piece influenced by Structural Film (Michael Snow's "Wavelength")
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Structural_film

or using appropriation (Dara Birnbaum's "Technology/Transformation: Wonder Woman")
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appropriation_(art)

The piece will be worked out through drawings and diagrams in your sketchbook, shot in HD with the Canon 7D (or your own HD camera), and edited in FCP. It is due 09.27.12 for critique. Please bring your sketches, diagrams, and three minutes of footage next week to begin the editing process.

*If you are focusing on appropriation, these links will allow you to download youtube videos without using any additional software:
http://offliberty.com/
http://keepvid.com/
http://saveyoutube.com/

If you are on your own Mac I recommend downloading MPEG Streamclip:
http://www.squared5.com/
Download the highest resolution MP4 file, but be prepared for low quality videos.
If you are willing to pay $20, iShowU works great for capturing videos in real time:
http://shinywhitebox.com/ishowu-v1/

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Film & Video: the 1970's